Vevo NewFront Proves Music And Money Makes World Go 'Round

Vevo, the music video site, claims to have more millennial viewers than any cable network, and counts its successes in ridiculous huge
numbers.

At its NewFront event Monday night, it announced a new list of programs and advertising initiatives, but never strayed far from the main
fact: It has 5.5 billion viewers monthly and 14 of the top 20 most-shared-videos ever are from Vevo.Online Video Daily reporter Gavin O’Malley’s report is here.

Music
videos are so much a part of the music experience, that Jonathan Carson, chief revenue officer, said: “Music without video is the modern-day equivalent of reading sheet music for
entertainment.”

And because it’s a youth-oriented biz, Vevo finds itself as the leading indicator of what’s happening now.

For example, a year ago, Andrea Zapata, vice president of research said, 83% of its viewing came from PCs. Now, only 40% does, a sign of the
growth of mobile and even OTT.

Danielle Lee, vice president of commercial marketing, said after the presentation that on average, a Vevo user on an OTT device watches
3.5 hours per session — compared to one hour on mobile and 12 minutes on PC. That huge number indicates OTT users tune to Vevo on TV screens for parties or just background.

But it’s also true that three out of four users watch Vevo on multiple devices.

The Vevo event was not the sort of place you’d want to
invite any of your Neil Youngian music fans. It was all about the money, and nothing was more evident of that than Vevo’s announcement that it’s teaming with Mirriad to insert brand
messages into videos.

Vevo sampled the idea by showing part of Aloe Blaac’s “The Man” video. The inserted Levi’s signage was so evident and so
obvious it would get laughter if Stephen Colbert, famous for his unartful product placement, did something similar. I suspect younger music fans won’t be bothered at all; getting a product
tie-in is now part of the process.

Vevo is also expanding its Twitter Amplify partnership to include Certified CountUps, a way brands, artists and labels can target
tweets to sell product and also encourage views of particular videos.

In the Vevo world, 100 million video views makes a music video “Certified.” Since Vevo
Certified started, two years ago, 275 videos have achieved this milestone, as Vevo likes to call it. When a video is close, but not quite there, artists including Justin Bieber have taken to social
media to get fans to watch more to get it over the hump. Marketing is so strange now.

Vevo also announced seven new series on the allied arts — fashion with
“Get the Look” and “Stylized” and behind-the-scenes chillin’ with “Day Off With…”

No online content provider is
apparently authentic without a cooking show; this is the golden age of famous chefs and food advertisers. Vevo’s new show is called “Taste of Music,” described like this: “Each
episode invites a rock star chef to watch a popular music video and translate the feelings it evokes into food, creating a unique and surprising dish.” In the snippet we saw, the inspiration led
directly to a cheese steak sandwich.